In Disney’s animated movies, every blade of grass sways in the wind, every strand of hair is crystal clear, every movement is fluid and natural… From Mickey Mouse to every princess, each character has left an indelible impression on generations of people. For hundreds of years, Disney has created countless dreams for adults and children alike. And these household-name animations all began with a simple pencil, then rode the wave of technology to create something truly magical, from hand-drawn lines to digital wizardry. Disney’s boundless imagination continues to reshape the map of the animated world, from the earliest hand-drawn sketches to electrostatic printing and now to CGI technology. Yet, innovation continues, but it all starts with that first pencil stroke.

Traditional hand-drawn animation，
When people think of Disney, they often think of Disney’s “boss,” Mickey Mouse. “Steamboat Willie” is also a true pioneering work. This animated film is the first talking animation and Mickey’s debut. Then there’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” which is the first full-length color film. Its appearance marks a breakthrough in Disney’s animated films. In the production process, it used tracing technology, where Disney used live actors and filmed them, and animators drew each frame through a transparent glass. It also used the multi-plane camera created for solving the problem of characters and backgrounds moving simultaneously in the 1937 film “The Old Mill,” which gave the background a sense of depth and made the character’s movements more fluid and realistic. However, the production process of hand-drawn animation still requires a lot of time and high costs to complete, and there are certain limitations in terms of expression

The Emergence of Digital Transformation: Computer-Aided Production
In the late 1980s, Disney and Pixar collaborated to develop the CA PS system, which digitally colored and post-processed animation, revolutionizing the traditional hand-drawn process. Before that, Disney used innovative visual and musical fusion in “Fantasia” by using multi-plane cameras and the most advanced color technology of the time to combine music with abstract animated scenes, creating a visually striking experience. This was also an attempt to combine hand-drawn and technical elements. In 1961, Disney used XEROX copying technology for the first time in “101 Dalmatians” to simplify the hand-drawn animation process, converting animators’ sketches directly into film, which made the animation style more modern. The complete integration of hand-drawn and digital techniques can be seen in the 1989 film “The Little Mermaid,” which is one of Disney’s finest hand-drawn animated films. The film also marked the beginning of Disney’s animation renaissance, as it maintained its traditional hand-drawn style while introducing some digital technologies such as CAPS. Although it still relied on hand-drawn techniques, its colors were richer, the backgrounds more complex, and it showcased the perfect combination of digital technology and hand-drawn animation.

The Rise of CGI: Full Digital Animation

“Dinosaur” (2000) was the first fully CGI-animated feature film produced by Disney, in which the characters and main scenes were all generated by computer, but Disney placed the CGI-generated characters in real backgrounds to create a unique world style. The film was also an important step in Disney’s CGI animation exploration. In 1995, Pixar and Disney collaborated to produce the film “Toy Story,” which was the world’s first fully computer-generated feature-length animated film, in which all characters, scenes, props, and effects were rendered using computer technology. This created a new way of animating. Through Pixar and Disney, a lot of technological innovations were achieved, including early ray tracing, dynamic simulation, and more complex rendering techniques, which greatly enhanced the realism and visual experience of animation. Later films such as “The Incredibles” and “Finding Nemo” showcased more complex CGI techniques, such as fluid simulation, hair simulation, and realistic lighting effects.

The Future Trends and Technological Innovations
In recent years, movies such as Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia have been released, which not only use high-quality CGI technology, but also retain the hand-drawn animation style in character design and style. This combination not only enhances the visual quality of the film, but also retains the aesthetic features of Disney’s traditional animation.
In the future, Disney may rely more on AI technology to assist in animation production, which can save a lot of time and labor costs. At the same time, with the development of virtual technology, Disney has begun exploring how to combine CPI and VR or AR to create more immersive animation experiences. Disney’s traditional hand-drawn animation has created a visually rich world through technological innovation and artistic expression, while its stories have attracted everyone who longs for a fairy tale world and a better life.

Hahn, D. (Producer). (2014). The story of Disney animation: From Snow White to Frozen [Documentary]. Disney+.

Disney’s adoption of computer-generated imagery (CGI) fundamentally changed animation storytelling (Beck, 2005).

According to Barnes (2020), Disney pioneered the transition from traditional to digital animation through groundbreaking films like Toy Story and Frozen.

writer by :Zining Luo

student ID : 33862470